Two New Colors Introduced for 2019 Corvette

May 3, 2018

On Friday, April 27 as part of the Michelin NCM Bash, General Motors held their annual event seminar providing an update on Corvette. With the 2019 model year starting earlier than usual, most of the details had already been released. But the team at Chevrolet saved one fun piece of news for the event attendees.

Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter and Corvette Product Marketing Manager Harlan Charles were joined on stage by GM Bowling Green Assembly Body and Paint Manager Chuck Valentini who brought two surprise show and tell items to accompany the announcement of two new colors. Displayed were rear quarter panels featuring the new blue exterior color, Elkhart Lake Blue, and the new Shadow Gray. Elkhart Lake replaces Admiral Blue while Shadow replaces Watkins Glen Gray.

Watkins Glen Gray, as of April 3, 2018, was the third most popular color for 2019 Corvettes with 15%. Admiral Blue was the 7th with 5 % of the 7070 produced.

Timing for the color swaps is as follows:

GJ1 Shadow Gray (replacing G7Q Watkins Glen Gray)

May 17: G7Q Watkins Glen Gray – Last Day to Order

June 18: Last Day of Production

June 28: GJ1 Shadow Gray – Available to Order

August 6: First Day of Production

There are no more allocations of Watkins Glen Gray for ZR1

GS7 Elkhart Lake Blue (replacing GTR Admiral Blue)

June 28: GTR Admiral Blue – Last Day to Order

August 13: Last Day of Production

August 30: GS7 Elkhart Lake Blue – Available to Order

October 1: First Day of Production

In an interview with WBKO Television, Chuck shared some information on the new paint shop, explaining how it enables the Plant to create colors like the new hues.

“The new paint shop we just installed certainly is a key enabler to it. We have a lot better technology and are able to control the spray a lot better than what we used to do in the past.”

Chuck added that the new blue shade is more metallic than that of their Admiral Blue Metallic option, and the new gray metallic takes on a lighter shade than previous gray colors, along with being a tinge greener.

“This is also a different paint formula that we use in our new shop. And that’s allowed us to push the limits a little bit more on paint pigments, and how we are attaining color positions,” he said.